Telescope Reviews: Hier ist Gutenberg!

Here's Gutenberg!

It was meant to be cloud free tonight, but as soon as I walked out of my grandmother’s house and looked up at that lunar smile, I practically ran to my house to grab my gear. You just never know when the weather will change and I certainly didn’t want to miss my chance! Also I bought an 8mm Televue Plossl with birthday money that I hoarded from last month, so I was practically bursting with excitement. I slipped on my coveralls so fast that my cargo pant legs slid up to my knees and Paul had to reach up under the legs of the coveralls to yank my pants back down to my ankles where they belong...

With no clue that there was a crater called Gutenberg, I spied this beautiful object with the best clarity and detail I had yet seen with the ETX70.

First used the 25mm, went to 8mm, added a 2x Barlow, then finally used the 8mm with a 3x Barlow for a total magnification of 131.25x. The eye relief wasn’t that bad, and the clarity terrific! It’s a great feeling knowing I can push for more magnification with our little scope.

Gutenberg

Opening up the velveteen Rukl (it will be forever called that now, Carol

) to 48, I was able to name my beautiful find as Gutenberg. It was named after Johannes Gensfleisch (dit Gutenberg), a german goldsmith that developed the first printing press (1398-1468). At this time, seeing was 5/5 with cloud cover about 20%.

This damaged crater is located on the Western edge of Mare Fecunditatis and to the South and West of Gutenberg are the Montes Pyrenaeus. I began my sketch outlining the main features, noticing a striking line in the middle of the crater. My first thought was hills, until some of the clouds cleared away, and them BAM! The clarity was so grand that I believed I saw a rille system in the middle of it. A quick look to VR (velveteen Rukl) showed that indeed it was! Maybe not a big deal to most of you, but this was the first time I have been able to positively identify a rille system with the ETX70. Big stuff for me!

Here’s a glance at the craters I saw tonight:
Gutenberg: 77km wide, height 2280m, damaged circular formation, Longitude 41E, Lat. 8.6S.
E: 28km, a flooded crater that breaks the Eastern wall of Gutenberg
D: 20km SE
C: Between highlighted areas of what looks like a fork just South of Gutenberg on the sketch
K: Just barely visible North
With the shadow play, A was not visible

Nearing the end of the hour long session, the clouds were getting thicker and I sat there patiently for breaks so I could continue on with my sketch and hopefully nab a few more features off my lunar checklist. With somewhat of a bittersweet sigh, I gave up in the end, but not without the satisfied smile of someone who just visited an old friend.

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Erika
Automatic doors make me feel like a Jedi.

10" LX200 Classic, ETX70-AT, DS Maxscope 60mm, 12" Truss Dob, Orion ED80
My CN Gallery * 2007 July - tracking NOAA10963